Research dissemination and invocation on the Web
| Pages | 413-420 |
| Date | 01 December 2002 |
| Published date | 01 December 2002 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14684520210452745 |
| Author | Mike Thelwall |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Research dissemination
and invocation on the
Web
Mike Thelwall
Introduction
The Web is an important medium of research
and education in many parts of the world. It is
now widely used as one of the primary means
of disseminating research findings through
digital libraries and electronic documents
such as e-journals (Harter and Ford, 2000;
Halliday and Oppenheim, 2001), e-print
archives (Harnad and Carr, 2000; Garner et
al., 2001; Town et al., 2002) and online
conference proceedings (Goodrum et al.,
2001). One recent study found that the online
publication of papers in computer science
may facilitate higher citation-based impact
(Lawrence, 2001). Moreover, according to
Weigold (2001), ``[the Web] has the potential
to dramatically change the relationships of the
players in science communication''. It has
now become possible for all researchers to use
the Web to help promote their research.
There is a strong common sense argument for
using the Web. Publication is free to
academics, at least in the richer countries, and
so the main cost would frequently be in the
design and production of the promotional
material. As discussed below, Web
publication gives potential access to new
audiences. Moreover, it is fast compared to
most print media and admits hypertext-
specific devices such as linking to full journal
or conference papers from publication lists or
summaries, copyright permitting. An
additional argument for Web publication is
the relative ease with which its online impact
can be assessed.
Much recent research has investigated the
kinds of information about scholarly activities
that can be extracted from the Web,
particularly Web links (Rousseau, 1997;
Ingwersen, 1998; Thelwall, 2000, 2001a, b,
2002a, b). It has been shown in several
national university systems that counts of
links between universities can produce results
that correlate significantly with source and
target institutional research productivity
(Thelwall, 2001b, 2002a, b; Smith and
Thelwall, 2002), which gives some evidence
that link counts may be meaningful indicators
of scholarly impact. An exercise that
attempted to attribute reasons for such link
creation found that almost 90 percent were
created for reasons that were associated with
The author
Mike Thelwall is a Senior Lecturer at the School of
Computing and Information Technology, University of
Wolverhampton, Wolverhampton, UK
Keywords
Research, Internet, Dissemination
Abstract
The importance of the Web as a new medium for
disseminating and promoting scholarly research is
discussed. Particular attention is paid to its potential to
provide evidence of wider impact for research than that
which can be shown by citation analysis.
Recommendations are made for basic strategies for the
reporting of the online impact of research leading to the
production of what is termed a Web Invocation Portfolio.
A conceptual framework is also proposed to help funding
and promotion committees assess and compare
portfolios.
Electronic access
The research register for this journal is available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregisters
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is
available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1468-4527.htm
Refereed article received 17 July 2002
Approved for publication 26 July 2002
413
Online Information Review
Volume 26 .Number 6 .2002 .pp. 413±420
#MCB UP Limited .ISSN 1468-4527
DOI 10.1108/14684520210452745
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